Overview
Oxford Brookes University required a reliable and secure solution to transmit critical Building Management System (BMS) alarms—including fire safety alerts—from remote campus buildings to a central monitoring PC. These buildings lacked traditional IT infrastructure and presented limitations around software scalability and network access. The challenge was to implement a secure, non-intrusive communication link without affecting the existing university LAN or overloading the current alarm reporting system.
To meet these complex requirements, Oxford Brookes turned to Varciti to engineer a bespoke solution that enabled secure data transmission, maintained existing system compatibility, and allowed for future scalability.
Our Solution
Varciti designed and deployed a tailored 4G-based network infrastructure using industrial-grade Teltonika routers, secure VPN tunneling, and custom firewall routing logic.
1. Secure 4G Connectivity
We installed a Teltonika 4G LTE router at each remote building to establish a robust and reliable cellular data connection. These routers provided the necessary connectivity where physical cabling was not feasible, and were configured to ensure encrypted communication channels.
2. Firewall Deployment and VPN Tunneling
To maintain network integrity and strict security compliance, we installed a dedicated firewall within the university’s infrastructure. This firewall was configured to:
- Handle all incoming VPN connections from the remote Teltonika routers
- Route both existing and new traffic from remote systems directly to the BMS reporting PC
- Prevent any backdoor access to the wider university LAN, keeping the IT environment fully segmented
- Authenticate and isolate traffic per connection to enforce zero-trust principles
3. Legacy Software Compatibility
The existing BMS reporting system had strict limits on how many reporting devices could be registered. Rather than adding new endpoints (which would have required software upgrades or licensing changes), we engineered a seamless integration strategy that:
- Routed all new alerts through the same reporting stream already being monitored
- Maintained existing formatting and protocols to avoid configuration changes on the software side
- Presented new alarms as extensions of existing data flows—ensuring no disruption to historic functionality
